SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Five of the top 25 business schools are moving to Canvas by Instructure for their learning management system. They join more than 275 colleges, universities and school districts that have chosen Canvas as their technology platform for teaching and learning. School administrators say they chose Canvas because it complements their emphasis on educational innovation.

"The Wisconsin School of Business is focused on creating a transformative educational experience for our students," said Bruce Maas, the vice provost for IT and chief information officer at the University of Wisconsin. "In designing this experience, we are using Canvas to explore how we can best deliver courses that share information, promote interaction and create a sense of community. We're carefully assessing how Canvas enables instructors and students to interact with the course content and with each other."

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School began using Canvas during the previous academic year; and now Columbia Business School, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Wisconsin School of Business have also started using Canvas to teach their business courses. Susan Kellogg, associate dean of information and technology at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, said Canvas creates an environment where faculty members are encouraged to experiment even more with new ways of teaching.

"Canvas makes adding video/audio – for curriculum or feedback – and other richer media easy for faculty," Kellogg said. "But there are other 'surprises' like how dynamic the discussion boards are because of how Instructure designed them. They really facilitate online conversations in ways we have not experienced before."

"One interesting aspect to me is how Canvas makes communication between faculty and students more individualized and thus more meaningful," Kellogg said. "This has the real potential for a richer online relationship between faculty and students. I think many believe an LMS actually puts distance between the professor and the student – not so with Canvas."

Columbia Business School took 18 months to compare learning management systems. Ultimately, Columbia said it chose Canvas because the system saves students and teachers time and accommodates their teaching and learning styles.

"Many of our students commute on trains and study in places where they don't have access to the Internet," said Ray Morales, executive director of technology services at Columbia Business School. "Canvas enables our students to easily download the content they need when they do have connectivity. Canvas also pushes timely notifications to our students about deadlines in order to keep them up to date on course information."

About Instructure:Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Founded by graduate students in collaboration with educational institutions, Instructure provides Canvas – the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning platform.